Safety Regulations and Medicinal Values

Disclaimer: Before I start writing--I know that my posts very often seem insanely long and therefore undesirable to read--but if you look carefully they're actually not that bad. There are just a lot of pictures ^^, and if you read in between the pictures, I tend to have five lines at most between a lot of them, so please just read and comment :).

움직이다. Okay, strange way to start this post, and it has nothing to do with the title, but I just have to talk about how much I love this verb haha. It means "To move." But it just sounds so funny. An English transliteration of it would be "oom-jiggy-da." I remember being on a bus on one of the first days and the bus made a turn and the lady almost fell before grabbing on to a pole and she exclaimed quietly to herself "아! 움직인다! (oom-jiggin-da)" And then I started to think about how silly it would be to hear a policeman point his gun at a criminal and yell "움직이지 마세요! (oom-jiggy-ji maseyo!)"--"Don't move!" Hahahaha, well, I'm sure police use another word that I dunno. Still though, it's a funny word, at least to my American ears ^_^.

Now to quick summary of what's happened since last week. Sorry I haven't updated for so long--I've been sick these past few days so it hasn't been on my priorities T_T. Last Wednesday was dinner at yet another Chuncheon Chicken Kalbi restaurant with Philip and other Light Fellows, including a guest appearance by Jin Soo, who's studying at Seoul University. That was a nice surprise!
Afterwards the ever-knowledgeable-about-Seoul Philip (having been in Seoul last summer and ready to take on this summer, a year, and then ANOTHER summer in Seoul) took us to a Red Mango, who, if anyone has heard of Pinkberry (my friends in New York and California should have), Red Mango is basically the same thing--frozen yogurt (some say Pinkberry is a ripoff of Red Mango because Red Mango came out first but came to the states from Korea after Pinkberry).
Friday was a fun fun day--I hung out with classmates and friends of classmates after class. We went to a Soondubu 순두부 (a special kind of bean curd soup) restaurant and it was pretty interesting to hear a buzz of Japanese to my right and Chinese/English to my left haha. I met a few more twenty-year-range girls from Japan and one middle aged guy from Israel named Yosif. The diversity of Sogang just keeps amazing me :). After some of us branched off, we hung out in Baskin Robbins, just chattering away in our Korean--receiving stares from the native customers hahaha. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera ;(.

Short story here: When I had dinner with Andy, I ordered something called 순대국, just to try it (plus it was one of the cheapest things on the menu). The dish arrived and I couldn't tell what half of the meat inside was (let alone the vegetables, I really need to figure out what all these Korean vegetables are called some time). But as Andy said, "With a lot of Korean food, you just have to try it and if you like it, then keep eating it." That's my mom's principle too--when I was a kid and she'd give me a spoonful of unidentifiable food.

Me: What's that?
Mom: Eat it.
Me: But what is it?
Mom: Just eat it.

More often than not I liked it so it didn't matter what it was. Well, this food was...okay. I mean, I wasn't going to waste my money so I finished it, unable to identify any single piece of meat--because it looked like fish...but had the texture of chicken...and then sometimes looked like beef? Well, recently I looked up 순대 and read this definition--"a sausage made of bean curd and green-bean sprouts stuffed in pig intestine." Oh. Yum. Excuse me while I go to the bathroom.

Not really. On to the weekend!

Saturday Jessica and I met up for lunch near Sinchon Station at around 1:30PM, thinking it was probably too late for us to catch up with Ryan, Becky, and Jesse for the Seoul Zoo (I dunno if it actually was or not). While eating, we decided to choose a random spot from the Lonely Planet Guide--Children's Grand Park 어린이 대공원. Such. A. Good. Choice.
You won't believe how much fun we had there! It was like reliving our childhood again. From the moment we walked into the beautiful scenery with the lake and pagoda-like structures, fountains, little kids happily frolicking with their parents--it made us wish we were kids again.
And the best part? It was FREE. A park with a zoo, botanical garden, amusement park, animal show, and other things--100% (well almost) FREE. The only things for money to be spent on would be food, certain "extra" things, like elephant/camel rides, and the amusement park for example, but even those prices were really cheap.
We spent a good twenty minutes or so just checking out the excellently laid out scenery before heading to see the elephants. Now in American zoos I doubt you'd ever be allowed to get THIS close to an elephant's trunk ;):
But in Korea...rules and regulations are bent a bit ;) (I'll expand on this later). We took an elephant ride for 5000won--reminded me very much of the elephant rides back in Thailand ^^.
After the elephant ride--we started (emphasis on started) to head to the amusement park. But of course, many distractions lay along the way--including a concert (with um, not so great singers ^^), random gardens, random exhibits (like an interesting exhibit of wood-carved-nature), strange signs...
[It says: "Danger, do not enter." Strange that anyone would ever think of entering...some empty field of tall grass like this...and what would be dangerous about it. This sign showed up in a bunch of strange places--like in front of a fountain...]
...and Korean babies stopped us. Yes, I look like a creepster of course, but Jessica first asked the baby's grandpa if we could take pictures and he was fine with it, so why not use my new camera to make this baby a model :D! After watching the baby be all cute and stuff and the ajumma picnic next to the baby we continued our trek, next ending up at a small stream area where many kids were playing.But while Jessica was being creepy taking pictures of more cute babies, I was stalking some really beautiful birds that I had seen around the park. Unfortunately it kept flying away every time I came close while trying to swiftly swap my kit lens with my telephoto lens. Eventually I got it on and as luck would have it I caught two birds in a picture! Course I could think of proverbs like "Killing two birds with one stone" or "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," but neither one really works here does it...
Regardless, I was really happy to have captured these birds with their shiny navy blue coats leading to their pearly white feathers. I've always loved birds so it made me happy to catch some up close thanks to the telephoto lens :). After being content with taking enough pictures of children, Jessica followed me and we continued on our journey to the amusement park...but not before being stopped by yet another distraction--the monkey exhibit. When we first saw the two monkeys at the top, it looked like they were doing dirty things but then it turned out that the monkey that was taller was just giving the shorter one a hug, eliciting an "aww" from the crowd and a "Darn I should've taken out my telephoto lens faster." Regardless, I still got some fun pics :).
Everybody likes to see a baboon's butt no? :P This one was particularly intense.
And I decided to give this dude a little photo op. Check out the vanity...the stark expression. I think he/she enjoyed it ^_^. Course, before we could even take another step toward the amusement park, what was there but yet ANOTHER zoo exhibit--water birds.
Course we start with the penguins--awesome birds that have flippers for wings. Jessica and I were a bit sad that we wouldn't get to see "Korean" penguins in the zoo Ryan, Jesse, and Becky were going to, but we had our own set of "Korean" penguins here! Yay.
Again I just can't get enough of my telephoto lens haha. Love the coloring on this duck :).
Finally, we arrived near the amusement park area, but not before first taking a short rest--where I could go to this...mushroom bathroom thing. Yeah people get the strangest ideas don't they?
The best thing about this amusement park was that it was only 21,000won for an unlimited ticket. Sweet :D! Our first ride to hit was this classic swing-like ride. Another excellent thing about this park? No lines whatsoever--it made it look like half the rides were closed!
And how can we NOT mention Engrish when it comes to Korea :D. I'm sure I'll be finding more of these to put up hehe. Let's see--NOT ALLOWED TO ELDERLY. Sounds pretty threatening. NO DRUNKEN RIDE. Hahahaha, oh Korea and drinking culture.
Okay, Korean kids are intense...and this is just the beginning. What kid in their right mind would crawl into that monster's mouth? Obviously that kid is about to be devoured...
Exhibit B for Korean kids are crazy. Okay, so this roller coaster isn't THAT tall, but it does have a loop the loop and two corkscrews. I'd say that's a ride for what, 12 year olds at least? No, everyone around us was like 5 years old. Maybe 8 or 9 at oldest...or maybe Korean kids just mimic Korean adults who tend to look 10+ years younger than they actually are.
Just had to take this picture. Check out the mother's pouch for her baby hahahaha.
And to another ride we took. 하늘열차 means "Heaven Train" or "Sky Train." Well, it wasn't much of a heaven if you ask us--check out all that graffiti on it. It's amazing how much graffiti there is! Though the park's theme did seem to be lots of graffiti--as almost all the ride names were also graffitied on to the side by the park creators.
After surmounting multiple multiple dizzying and vomit-inducing spinning kiddie rides (above: yes, you sit and are spun in a circle, many many times), Jessica and I decided to take a break and took the ferris wheel up up, over Seoul! I wanted very badly to take a nice pic of the mountains but the small window only allowed so much :(:
Now to refer WAYYY back to the title of this entry--Safety regulations. At least in amusement parks, safety regulations seem not to be on very high priority hahahaha. We trusted them, so it didn't really matter too much to us, but think of how this would NEVER pass in the US.
1) Check out the rust on the pole of Jessica and my "Jumping Boat" (why the ride would be Jumping Boats, and not like Jumping Rockets or Jumping Crickets was a good question Jessica brought up).
Probably would've been pretty bad if our jumping boat jumped away wouldn't it...
2) Jessica and I were ruminating about whether our constant nauseating experiences in the kiddie rides were a result of us getting old or bad physics? Well, with the regulations of this park, it wouldn't surprise me if it were the physics.
3) Seat belts, tight restraints, etc. always a must. Checking whether they're actually tightened correctly one more time before the ride starts?...Not so much required here.
4) Let's see, I can take out my camera WHILE the boats are jumping to take more pics? Somehow I doubt they would ever allow that in the US, although I guess if my camera breaks it's *my fault* anyway. But if someone's child breaks because they didn't check the seat belts...that can't be his/her fault right? (sorry, bad taste, I would never want a child to break, I love children =]).
5) In the ferris wheel I was able to stand up to take pictures--now I have no idea how secure that door I was taking pictures up against was--I'm glad I didn't check.

Sans the safety regulations though, it still seems pretty trustworthy :). After all, no accidents have happened yet, right? ^_^

Last thing to happen just before Jessica and I left--a Korean teenage (or maybe 20s? you can never tell with Koreans haha) couple asked us if they could have our wrist straps (what we bought for 21,000won). Pretty cute that they were a poor couple just looking to have a fun day together at the amusement park haha :). Too bad we didn't bum ours off some random two people.
After separating with Jessica at the station, I took a detour to Konkuk University and took a bus to a Baskin Robbins where MY FAVORITE KOREAN FROM WESLEYAN RHEE SOO works! She avoided my camera though :(. Alas, she had to work and her boss would not let her come see her favorite Chinese dude from Yale. It was nice eating jasmine tea ice cream and catching up a little bit with her and then tasting some other ice cream flavors though--maybe next time we can have a full hangout session.

Sunday, last day of the weekend! I know, my weekends are exciting, aren't they? I hung out with Min Jie, Rie, and Jonathan. We met up at A Twosome Place, a coffee shop franchise in Seoul and had a bit of coffee to start the day. Sidenote: I've had more coffee in Seoul so far than I've probably had all freshman year. Before leaving, I had to take a picture of this amusing sign in the bathroom stall:
Okay, I know it's the BLURRIEST thing ever, but I didn't wanna use flash for fear of seeming a weirdo...but it says "If you toss toilet paper into the toilet (words too blurry to read) problem can happen!!! >.<>.<" now hehe. We ate some sukiyaki for lunch--very unsure of what one of the seafoods they had added to our soup was...it looked like a small fish brain or something...and had a really gross texture that when you bit into it it squirted something out T_T. Yeah, we avoided that.
We then took a bus to near Gwanghwamun and took a nice walk along 청계천, the Cheonggye Stream, an urban renewal project finished by 2005. It was a beautiful day and the sun shone sooo beautifully on the stream. So naturally, we had to walk, and take many pics :).
Not so sure what Min Jie's doing cuz it looks nothing like a heart hahaha. Rie left us shortly after to go see a friend, so the Jonathan, Min Jie, and I hung out, sitting by the stream.
On such a beautiful day, who WOULDN'T want to be here? Oh and by the way, this is the same stream that I took a picture of at night in my last post ^^.
We start to slip our feet in, feeling the comfort of the cold water. Obviously Jonathan's feet have not seen much sunlight haha. Eventually we start to walk along the slippery floor itself.
And as good friends must (Jonathan and Min Jie were in the same class last semester too), they start to splash each other hahaha.
Then I took out my creepster lens (that is, my beloved telephoto lens), and started to people cam (as opposed to people watching, though I guess it is a way of people watching).
Probably will be frequenting Cheonggye Stream :).
After this we headed to Myeongdong 명동 to wander around until we could meet Jonathan's Korean friend 송송 for dinner.
While wandering we saw a pretty cool dance group.
After their performance they gave out flyers--but the one they gave me was in Japanese haha, yeahhhh, doesn't really help :P.
After a bit more wandering, we met up with 송송 and had a nice barbecue of Samgyupsal 삼겹살, which is very much like bacon but thicker. Mmmm. We then took a bus back to Sinchon, but Jonathan took it the rest of the way home--while Min Jie and I made plans to meet up with Rie again, inviting Reiko along with us to do what else but KARAOKE hahaha.
After eating a few desserts, we headed over to this REALLY fancy place that Reiko showed us.
And boy was it fancy. We got ice cream for free and such a nice ROOM too.
Complete with fluffy animals too! And a nice view ^^.
Now THIS karaoke was quite different from what I've experienced--hanging out with people who don't speak English really changes the dynamic of what songs are sung at karaoke hehe. But no matter, I listen to enough Asian pop music to know my way around a few ^_^. So we ranged from:
Min Jie and me singing Chinese pop
To Reiko and Rie rockin' out on the Jpop
To Reiko trying an English song (Power of Love!)
To all of us trying many Korean songs! Including this really popular one, which ended in disaster XD.
It was an excellent way to end the weekend though :). Wish this picture had come out clearer but you can only ask so much when you ask someone to take a picture with a camera that needs specific settings @_@.

That's all with the pictures, but I've got one last rant, concerning the second part of my title haha. So I've been sick since Monday afternoon, miserable combination of headache, fever, a sore throat of epic proportions, weakness, and difficulty in sleeping. Tuesday I went with 루샤 이모 (such a wonderful woman) to a doctor who had a nurse give me a shot just above my 엉덩이 (butt). Then I was given several packets of medication--six pills in each packet, one packet per meal, three meals per day. That's eighteen pills in my body in one day...hmm. That night I have trouble sleeping, partially because the shot is making the right side of my hip sore but mostly because the illness is probably preventing my sleep. Next day, I'm still feeling miserable--fever's gone but my throat has swollen up even MORE. Aish. My ajumma takes me to the nearby doctor who diagnoses me with 평두 선염, though I heard it as 병노 선념 at first (looking it up later with no success). What do I get now? A shot on the LEFT side of my 엉덩이 and a different set of pills, this time five. Okay so now I'm a drug addict and my whole hip is sore, but at least I'm better! Well, today I feel much better so I go to school and see the doctor afterwards. My throat is much better and yet, I get yet ANOTHER shot, AGAIN on my right side--if I survive this disease I probably won't be able to walk again just because of these shots...as well as more pills. They tell me to come again tomorrow for another shot if it still hurts, even a little...yeah I think I might lie about that >_<.

So Korean medicine: Lots of shots and six times the pills? Well, as long as it works :)

Oh and I found out finally today what 평두 선염 is with a little bit of google's help: TONSILLITIS

Well, I never would have guessed.

So what's my status? Feeling much better, energy back, no headache, no fever, sore throat almost gone.

But a sore 엉덩이.

Well, at least I didn't die in a children's amusement park :).